


There Was Once a Lifetime without You

by Ciasquare



Series: Itachi Drabbles [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Gen, Insomnia, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-11 00:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4414649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ciasquare/pseuds/Ciasquare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During his last battle, as Itachi mumbles his last words, he makes a wish, which happens to be granted. He wakes up the next day to find that the world without the Uchiha massacre. He develops severe insomnia, afraid that if he sleeps he will be sent back to his original reality. Shisui tries to get him to sleep, which is apparently a harder task than he thought it would be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Was Once a Lifetime without You

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen a few reincarnation stories, but I always wondered if Itachi would worry about being sent back to his original reality, or that he would die soon. He would loathe to give up this perfect life, where he finally gets everything. I wanted to explore this a bit and so, well, read on!

"You have to sleep."

"Shisui."

"No. You clearly cannot function normally at this point. You," Shisui says, poking Itachi in the chest with an accusing finger, "Are sleeping. No arguments."

Strong hands grip him by the arms and pushes him towards the room. Itachi’s so tired, the bed seems to be calling out to him, but he must not sleep. He simply cannot. What if he wakes up to the other world? What if he wakes up and everyone is gone again? The rising panic makes his stomach twist sharply and makes him struggle against Shisui’s tight grip. It doesn’t relax even a fraction.

He’s trapped. He’s trapped and he’s going to die. In a fit of sheer fright, Itachi channels chakra into his arms, twisting sharply to escape, but Shisui just takes a step back and grabs him again, this time face to face. The panic escalates, heat tingling down his spine, and he begins to thrash.

Shisui's eyes widen, but his grip doesn't relax. Instead, he pulls him into a tight hug, falling backwards to the floor as he does so, rolling to trap Itachi under him. Itachi struggles weakly for a few seconds before giving up and going limp. His breath is still coming in gasps and he can feel his heartbeat wildly thumping, but Shisui doesn’t budge until Itachi no longer feels like he will explode with adrenaline.

"Better now?" Shisui asks calmly once Itachi’s eyes lose that glazed look. 

"Yes." The younger man intones dully, turning his head to the side to avoid Shisui’s gaze.

Shisui sits back on his haunches, rolling his eyes as he helps Itachi up. "Sheesh, you put up so much fight over a bedtime. People will think I'm dragging you to your death."

Itachi pales immediately, looking more like a ghost than usual, if that were possible. Shisui immediately places a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, no need to look so spooked. What's the matter?"

His next words are whispered so softly, Shisui would have missed them if he hadn't been so close.

"I didn't always have you. I don't want to lose you." The man mutters, staring at the floor. 

Shisui’s eyes widens in surprise at the strangely telling admission. They stay that way, standing in silence for a while until the silence threatens to overwhelm them. "I didn't know you felt so strongly about my missions." Shisui jokes, gently squeezing Itachi's shoulder.

"No," Itachi dissents, shaking his head and slowly looking at Shisui directly, "I have confidence in your skills. I just mean... You were gone once. For a very long time." Itachi uttered the sentence like it was a confession. Each word came so reluctantly; it was like pulling teeth.

"How long?" Shisui asks, racking his brain with an effort to remember.

"For a lifetime." Itachi exhales, looking away from Shisui's worried eyes.

This didn’t make sense. Shisui rubs at his face tiredly with a hand. "You're scared I'll be gone when you wake up?"

Itachi seemed to mull this over before nodding hesitantly.

_Is this his way of telling me he's worried I'll die? And he's not sleeping because of this?_ Shisui couldn't make head or tails of these pieces of information. Itachi was never one to worry about possibilities that had statistics in the decimals.

"I'm not going anywhere. And even if I were, you still have everyone else. Sasuke? Uncle and Aunt? Don't be-

"They weren't there either." Itachi interrupts, with a quick glance toward him.

"What do you mean by that?"

Itachi went frustratingly silent, stubbornly looking out the window in an attempt to avoid Shisui's eyes. 

"Do you mean if you were gone?" Shisui guesses, brow furrowed in a frown.

Itachi's gaze snaps to his face for a second before quickly averting to the window. 

"You're worried you'll die in your sleep? Itachi, you do know that the chances are infinitesimal?"

"Humor me." Itachi says dryly, finally turning to face him.

Shisui groans, running his fingers through his hair. He was quickly losing his patience. How did getting Itachi to sleep devolve into the meaning of life?

"You do know that even if you died, nobody else is going to right? Everyone will move on eventually. The world will be okay. There is no meaning of life. You come into the world to leave it." He snaps, irritated.

"But I haven't had enough time!" Itachi defends in a desperate whine.

Shisui snorts derisively. "Nobody thinks they have enough time. They live anyway. I suppose you just have to be grateful with what time you've got."

Itachi went silent for a bit, shifting his gaze back to the window. "That was surprisingly deep." He states without inflection.

Shisui smirks proudly, posing a little, "Just call me Sage Shisui." 

"And... Moment gone."

"Ugh.” Shisui groans, visibly deflating, “You're the worst. Can you sleep now?"

Itachi's expression flickers into fear for a second, but it was gone as soon as it appeared, pushing himself up. "I guess so."

Shisui sighs, rubbing his face again. If he had to deal with this every day, one day his face is bound to come right off. He walks briskly into the bedroom and grabs a book from off the nightstand, plopping himself down on the outer side of the futon. 

"I'm going to read here. I'm not going anywhere. I can tell what you're thinking and nope, I'm not even going to the bathroom." He raised an eyebrow at Itachi, expecting more protests from the stubborn man.

But Itachi, stone cold Itachi, practically exuded gratefulness as he eased himself into the bed. No words were said. Itachi's minimalistic attitude towards speech was apparently back in full force. Or maybe it was just too much to expect verbal thanks from the steely shinobi.

"Okay then. You're welcome."

Shisui hears Itachi’s breath begin to even, his whole body relaxing as he gave in to sleep's clutches. He smiles warmly at the stubborn man next to him, before yawning. Shifting to the side a little to allow Itachi a little more space, he turns his attention back to the book. 

But then a pale hand reaches out to cover his own, gently squeezing before lying limply. Startled, Shisui looks over at Itachi, who has a small blush creeping over his pale cheeks. He smiles, and uses his other hand to turn the page.

He supposes he would have to get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, this was supposed to be a snapshot from a longer story that doesn't want to be written. *sighs* So this has to be a standalone now.


End file.
